MEXICO CITY  First it was the burros from Kentucky. Then the chile peppers from China. Now Mexico is importing another one of its national symbols: the pint-size dog known as the Chihuahua.

Some Mexican pet stores have begun selling U.S.-bred Chihuahuas to well-heeled customers drawn by the cachet of an American pedigree. Celebrity owners like Paris Hilton have turned the tiny canines into a status symbol, and the "imported" tag heightens the allure, say store managers.

Even in the northern state of Chihuahua — from which the breed draws its name — about a third of the Chihuahuas sold at one pet store came from U.S. breeders. "A lot of the time these are the same blood lines we sent over the border years ago," said Mayra Rodríguez, owner of the Mascota Pet Shop.

Nationwide, dog imports from the USA to Mexico have more than doubled, from 2,102 dogs in 2002 to 4,402 in 2006, Mexico's economy ministry says. There's no official breakdown of imports by breed, but shops all over Mexico report an influx of "gringo" Chihuahuas.

"I think it's probably partly a matter of status, this desire for an American dog," said David Sánchez, assistant manager of the Mas-Kota shop in Mexico City's Perisur Mall. As Sánchez spoke, two American-bred Chihuahuas watched him from behind a Plexiglass window. A sign on the window said "Imported," along with the U.S.-style price: $1,530 each.

Dog ownership in Mexico has increased as the growing economy allows more people to afford pets, said Miguel Angel Robles, head of the registry at the Mexican Dog Lovers Federation. Meanwhile, Mexico has become one of the world's most open economies since the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994, making everything easier to import.

Most Chihuahuas in Mexico are still sold by local breeders. But several other Mexican emblems are also facing foreign competition, including:

• Hot peppers: A staple of Mexican cooking, one-third of dried chile peppers now come from Asia, according to Mexico's National Council of Chile Producers.

• Burros: The donkeys have become so scarce in some parts of Mexico that the government of Jalisco state is importing breeding stock from Kentucky.

• Poinsettias: Named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico in the 1820s, who took them back to the United States. Now U.S. companies own the patents on many of the best-selling varieties.

• Chocolate: First introduced to Europeans by the Aztec Indians, most Mexican chocolate is now produced by foreign-owned companies such as Mars, Hershey and Nestlé.

Chihuahuas first inspired the curiosity of foreigners after Spanish conquistadors described seeing them in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, now Mexico City. The Aztecs called the small dogs "techichis" or "tlalchichis" and raised them both as pets and food.

Techichis were probably brought to the modern-day state of Chihuahua by traders during the 1502-1520 reign of Aztec Emperor Montezuma II, said Cesar Gutiérrez, a canine expert who runs the Dogs of Mexico website. During the 1800s, the dogs attracted the attention of American travelers along the Chihuahua-Texas border, Gutiérrez said. Tourists bought the dogs and began to breed them.

These days, Mexico still supplies some Chihuahuas to the USA, but many of them are low-quality dogs that are smuggled across the border, said Carol Jeffrey, a spokeswoman for the Chihuahua Club of America. Only 250 Mexican dogs of all breeds were exported legally to the USA last year, according to Mexico's economy ministry.

Even some prospective customers are unhappy about what they see as the loss of a national symbol. "It's sad," said Salvador Bermúdez, a college professor from the city of Aguascalientes, as he looked at imported Chihuahuas for sale at a Mexico City mall. "Next they'll be importing them from China."

Hawley is a Latin America correspondent for USA TODAY and The Arizona Republic.

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Petunia, a Chihuahua dog, is groomed by her owner, Rosalinda Garcia, at a dog show in Cuatitlan, Mexico. The Chihuahua breed is from Mexico, but some Mexican pet stores are starting to import them from the United States.

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